Will fell asleep next to me on the couch, so I've been stuck here for two hours because I don't want to move lest I awaken him!

Grey generally only naps while I am next to him. If I didn't have my iPad I would have lost all sanity. He is getting better about sleeping alone but for the longest time if I got up when he was sleeping he would wake within five minutes.

Went to the beach with Tofulish & Leela, Jenna & family, and a couple other parent/baby units. Leela taught Malka how to eat sand - already a bad influence :). When we got home we took a really good bath and I thought I had gotten all of the sand out from every crevice on Malka's body. So yesterday we were in the park and Malka was pooping with a particularly strained look on her face and let out a pretty serious yelp mid-poop. I changed her diaper and noticed all this sand in her diaper and couldn't believe I had missed so much in the bath. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that she had pooped sand. Ouch, kid! I wish she understood cause and effect well enough to know that eating sand is bad news!

Went to the beach with Tofulish & Leela, Jenna & family, and a couple other parent/baby units. Leela taught Malka how to eat sand - already a bad influence :). When we got home we took a really good bath and I thought I had gotten all of the sand out from every crevice on Malka's body. So yesterday we were in the park and Malka was pooping with a particularly strained look on her face and let out a pretty serious yelp mid-poop. I changed her diaper and noticed all this sand in her diaper and couldn't believe I had missed so much in the bath. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that she had pooped sand. Ouch, kid! I wish she understood cause and effect well enough to know that eating sand is bad news!

Holy shiitake! I can't believe that! Leela has had no ill effects from eating sand, except that her poos have been slightly firmer. I wonder if she is making me a glass sculpture with her insides?

Also, OMG it is so nice hanging out with you, Mr A and Malka. I am totally missing you now that you are on vacation and planning fun stuff for when you return. //not creepy at all//

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Today, while dining at a local in-the-grocery-store cafe after music group, this lady came up to me as she was leaving and commented on how wonderful Freya was (is) and asked about her, doting on how sociable she'd been and how "clever" she was at talking with others and eating her big people food. Yay! I'm trying to hold on to this memory as she awakens yet again and yells at me for boobies, which she only wants to nuzzle on for like 90 seconds, all the while wondering if I"m insane for trying to encourage her to *not* take boobs but comfort herself to sleep. Whew.

Went to the beach with Tofulish & Leela, Jenna & family, and a couple other parent/baby units. Leela taught Malka how to eat sand - already a bad influence :). When we got home we took a really good bath and I thought I had gotten all of the sand out from every crevice on Malka's body. So yesterday we were in the park and Malka was pooping with a particularly strained look on her face and let out a pretty serious yelp mid-poop. I changed her diaper and noticed all this sand in her diaper and couldn't believe I had missed so much in the bath. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that she had pooped sand. Ouch, kid! I wish she understood cause and effect well enough to know that eating sand is bad news!

Ha ha ha ha ha. Well done Malka. That reminds me of went I went on holiday with my friend's family and their dog. The dog loved sand and became very excited when we kicked sprays of sand into the air for her to jump around in. In the evening, the dog left most of her food, which was unusual. The next day we discovered why the dog had not been hungry. She tried to poo and a pile of sand came out.

I love the fact that you thought you must have missed that much sand in the bath. I suppose sand can be pretty sneaky, but usually in tiny quantities.

_________________An unprocessed chicken is walking around and clucking to itself. And yes, I think they're healthier that way too. - Tofulish

It's Henry's first day of school! I've been stressed all weekend about forgetting to bring something (even though I work in the classroom 2 doors down). We should be leaving right now, but he woke up at 4:40 and just fell back asleep around 7, and I know putting him in the carseat will wake him up. Luckily it's only a 3 minute drive.

yay freya on being social! my dude has entered the world of stranger danger. I hate it. he does really well once he warms up to people though. A lady came up to him while he was sitting in the cart at the store and started to talk to him and he burst into tears. He is starting to get really cryish. He cries at everything now. I am assuming it is a phase but part of me wonders if he is just in the habbit of it now. Anyone else deal with this? He is 8 months.

yay freya on being social! my dude has entered the world of stranger danger. I hate it. he does really well once he warms up to people though. A lady came up to him while he was sitting in the cart at the store and started to talk to him and he burst into tears. He is starting to get really cryish. He cries at everything now. I am assuming it is a phase but part of me wonders if he is just in the habbit of it now. Anyone else deal with this? He is 8 months.

good luck bap and henry! He will be fine, esp with you close by!

Grey had a lot of stranger anxiety around 7-8 months. He only wanted me and it was really, really hard. It went quickly and now he is much better at letting people hold him one he sees that they aren't strangers to us. He is very social and liked people to talk to him and fawn over him, but yeah, that period of anxiety can be rough.

F's hit the stranger danger phase about 4 weeks ago maybe, but if she has me as an anchor, she does pretty well. She actually had this strange phase about 4 months with lots of tears at anyone saying boo to her, so I thought we'd been through it already. One of my friends held her last week for like 30 seconds while I got the buggy ready and F was hysterical. Today on the bus though, she was reaching out and touching strangers and talking to someone and staring, head sideways at this man who was sleeping on the train. Funny as anything.

Hoping that she does well on vacation with grandparents, aunts, uncle, sister's boyfriend, old friends, 2 dogs, several cats, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I guess my kid is a freak. He's almost two and he never hit the stranger danger phase. In fact I have to contain him sometimes to prevent him from molesting complete strangers everywhere we go, and it's always been like that. He says 'hi' and 'bye' to EVERYONE, thinks all babies want him RIGHT IN THEIR FACE, all strangers are potential best friends and are welcome to hold him, lead him anywhere etc. I have to keep my eyes on him at all times when we're out somewhere like Starbucks, because if someone tried to snatch him he would gladly help them out.

refinnej wrote:

She actually had this strange phase about 4 months with lots of tears at anyone saying boo to her

Aw, bless her heart. That reminds me of another crazy thing about my kid. Since the day he was born, he has LOVED to be scared. Like, for real startled, make him jump kind of scared. He just laughs and laughs.

We never had a distinct "stranger danger" phase, but Lydia has been moderately shy from the start. She usually hides behind my legs when strangers try to say hi to her, but she does warm up to people fairly quickly.

It's Henry's first day of school! I've been stressed all weekend about forgetting to bring something (even though I work in the classroom 2 doors down). We should be leaving right now, but he woke up at 4:40 and just fell back asleep around 7, and I know putting him in the carseat will wake him up. Luckily it's only a 3 minute drive.

Good luck!

_________________Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. Buddha

Two out of the last three nights, I've had to get up in the middle of the night and feed Walter a snack. Usually he wakes up around 1:30, I nurse him, put him back in his crib, he makes his displeasure known for a few minutes and then goes back to sleep. The other night I nursed him, put him down, and he cried and yelled at me for an hour while my husband tried singing and rocking, I changed his diaper, got him a drink of water, etc. He was exhausted and kept nodding off, but he'd wake up after 30 seconds and cry again. Out of desperation I brought him downstairs, put him in his highchair, and gave him a glass of milk and a hot dog bun with peanut butter. He wolfed it down and when I put him back in his crib, he was out in 30 seconds. So he was definitely hungry. The next night I gave him yogurt and animal cookies immediately before bed and he didn't need to eat in the night. Last night, nothing after dinner, and he woke up at 11 and could not go back to sleep until I fed him toast with earth balance.

Has anyone else had to feed their kid food in the night? Maybe he's having a growth spurt? Am I facilitating a really bad habit here? I don't doubt that he's hungry, and I can't make him wait 7 hours for breakfast (no one would sleep!). I've tried not to do much talking when we go downstairs, and to make the food boring so that he doesn't start doing this for entertainment. I guess I need to stuff him with snacks right before bed.

H is doing great at daycare! It's hard to not check on him a bazillion times a day, but I get to see him on the playground, and his room is across from the bathroom so that gives me a chance to peek in. Both times I went in yesterday he was napping in his crib! I can count on one hand the number of naps he's taken in a crib at home during his five months of life. It's so funny how my views have changed, the lady that does music is coming today, and I've always been glad I miss it (I find her fairly annoying) because she always comes on days I go in later, but I'm really excited for Henry to go, and was ready to drop him off early so he didn't miss it.

Today Izzy (4 years old) was invited to play at his old daycare (had a baby, so we had to pull him out of daycare, since I'm not working) for the rest of the week. Yay! He is so excited! And perfect timing, as I have to take Zephyr to the hospital for a renal ultrasound. It is hopefully just to check that all is peachy, as they noticed something during my pregnancy ultrasounds, but it seemed to be resolving itself at the time. Now I only have to transport one child via bus from my house to the hospital and back. Wheeew. Makes it lots easier. Also, I have a bit of time to myself for the next couple days, because when Zephyr's not eating, he is often sleeping. Perhaps I'll get some coffee and do some reading.

_________________when you realise how perfect everything is, you will tilt you head back and laugh at the sky. -buddha

It is sweet that you want me to bring Leela into NYC to celebrate your wedding at an afterparty (the original party was in Montreal and just family) with you. But I don't think a nine month old would have a great time at a loud bar at an event that goes from 8pm to 2 am. I think the only person who would hate it more than her, would be me.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.